My friend, Pat, owner of "ART CACOON", invited me out for an afternoon of painting last weekend. We painted at her parents place on Cawley Pond. It was a fun afternoon, and a real challenge for me. This is my third outing in nearly as many years attempting plein aire painting. I struggle with selecting an area to focus on, with trying not to capture too much and the urge to work with the tiniest brushes.
When she invited me out to paint, I made a decision not to take apart my studio to fill my French easel. I went out and purchased a basic set of beginner oils, and an inexpensive set of brushes to keep packed up and ready to go. I prepped three 8"x10" canvases all set in Art Cacoons, so when I got there I was all ready to paint, I just had to pick an area to focus on.
It was mid to late afternoon and we had a couple of hours, the sky was clear and the pond was fairly calm. The area in the front with the cat 0' nine tails was actually out of my site line and they have all gone to seed this time of year, but I wanted to include them in my painting so I took artistic license.
I'm pleased because while this was sitting in my studio drying last week, my husband looked at through the doorway and decided, and I quote, "From here it looks like a photograph". That's high praise coming from him.
I am on vacation this week and will be spending a lot of time working on the still life I started several months ago. It has evolved quite a bit since the original sketch, and I hope to finish it this week. That is unless I take off with the French easel and spend more time learning from life.
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